Dragons are better than knights anyway!
by viv-heart
Summary: Modern Bookstore(?) AU, for Gajevy week on tumblr. Details inside Levy and Gajeel meet as children. Later, they find each other at a place neither of them would have expected. A book is the connection between them.


**Written for Gajevy week on tumblr for day 1 & 6 with the prompts "gift" and "past-future".**

**Warning: this was produced by a very stressed teenager right before exams so I don't guarantee anything.**

**Disclaimer: Fairy Tail belongs to Hiro Mashima.**

**Please leave a review :)**

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Dragons are better than knights anyway!

"Stop it, you jerks!" a small blue-haired girl shouted, hugging a book almost as big as herself, tightly.

"Let Jet and Droy alone! She cried, running towards the fighting group of boys.

The three rowdies didn't mind her, punching and kicking her friends even stronger than before.

"Levy! Watch out!" Jet shrieked as one of the boys he was fighting with stumbled backwards, exactly in the direction of the little girl.

But the boy, the fiercest looking of them with his black long hair and ripped jeans, moved too fast.

He bumped into Levy, making her cry out as the large book slipped out of her tiny arms and fell into the mud.

The tiny bluenette didn't mind that she herself fell down as she stared at the book that has been in her hands just seconds before. Tears filled her large, chocolate eyes and rolles down her cheeks as she sat there, her cute yellow dress soaking with dirt.

The boys stopped fighting and watched the girl helplessly.

Only the first drops of rain tore them out of the trance.

"Gajeel! Let's go!" one of the other rowdies shouted at the boy who had bumped into Levy before.

He was still staring at her, but turned at the voice, leaving the still crying girl and her friends as they were without a word.

Levy was sitting all alone on one of the swings on a playground, as a figure approached.

She didn't know what to do as she saw the rowdy from a few days ago walking towards her with a scowl and a big book in his hands.

"Hello" he muttered as he sat on the swing next to Levy's, still gripping the book tightly. The girl didn't reply and the children sat in silence for a while.

"I..I just wanted to say that I'm sorry!" the boy suddenly blurred out, making Levy blink in surprise.

"It's...It's fine." she replied awkwardly, still stunned, but smiling.

The book looked at her, than at the book in his hands and back at her.

"Here" he said finally, holding it out in her direction. "This is for the one I have ruined."

The book, obviously one of the history books for children about medieval knights, was clearly not the newest, but it was clear that it was special for the weird boy.

"Just take it already!" he groaned, as he felt really uncomfortable, the blush spreading over his cheeks making it even worse.

"Are you sure?" Levy asked as she took the book carefully, eyeing it with huge interest.

"Yeah, Yeah. Dragons are better than knights anyway!" he declared, glad that the girl accepted the gift.

"Thank you!" Levy gave him the cutest smile he has ever seen.

They sat in silence again, until the bluenette decided it was enough.

"What's your name?" she asked, as if she had just realized that she didn't know it.

"Gajeel." the boy replied warily.

"I'm Levy!" she smiled again.

The two children talked and played, laughing together and enjoying the great afternoon weather.

Levy hadn't had so much fun for a long time. Sure, playing with Jet and Droy was great, but Gajeel's bright mind and original ideas topped everything the two came up with.

And Gajeel understood something they didn't: her love for books and fairy tales. Through he still liked real history and legends more than her princesses.

The boy's stories about medieval knights and dragons and the glint in his eyes made the small girl curious. Was history really that great?

"Gajeel? Do you think dragons were real?" Levy asked eagerly.

"They still exist!" the boy blurred out without thinking. "My dad is a dragon!"

"W-What? A dragon? Really?"

"Yeah! A dragon! Gajeel announced proudly, looking way too comical, making Levy laugh so hard that she fell down from her swing. Luckily, the book was located safe somewhere else.

"Let's play together again!"

Gajeel flinched at that. "Um... That won't be possible... We are leaving the town tomorrow in the morning.."

"Leaving?" the small girl asked confused.

"Leaving. My dad's job makes us move from town to town every few weeks..." Gajeel was really unhappy about his dad's job for the first time. Usually, he didn't care and even enjoyed it. He loved travelling and seeing new places, but now he had a friend. A real friend. Not like those boys who were intimidated by him.

Gajeel asked himself, if it was possible to stay even a day longer, but he dismissed the idea immediately.

Suddenly, he felt tiny arms wrap around his body.

"Don't be sad. We will meet again for sure!" Levy said, smiling up to him. What an optimistic child.

"I don't doubt it, Shorty." Gajeel smiled back, patting the small girl on her head awkwardly.

"Miss! Miss! Excuse me, but I have to ask you to leave the train as we have reached our final destination!" Levy opened her eyes just to come face to face with a smiling, beautiful white-haired woman in a conductor-uniform.

"Oh my god! Sure! I am so sorry!" the young blunette jumped up and out of her seat, grabbing her things hastily.

"Miss, you have forgotten something." the woman waved at her with a book. Gajeel's book.

Levy's face turned bright red. "Thank you!"

"Take care!" the woman shouted behind her happily as the girl stumbled out of the train.

Levy was really glad, that Jet and Droy have convinced her to transport all the things to the dorm beforehand and to travel without much stuff.

This way, only with a light bag on her shoulders, she could go and explore the city on her way to the dorms.

In Levy's case, exploring the city was basically exploring it's bookshops, especially the ones selling second-hand books.

As it was already late afternoon and Levy felt tired, through she took a quick nap in the train, she decided to visit only the bookshops on her direct way to the dorms.

She was especially looking forward to a certain one which was only about two blocks away from the dorms and resided in an old theatre an had a small café where you could read while enjoying a cup of tea and a delicious piece of cake. At least all the reviews and comments she found on the internet, said so.

Not far from the train station, Levy spotted an interesting looking store. It was all black and specialized on Fantasy, one of her favourite genres of literature. The bluenette didn't hesitate and entered the store, looking around in amazement. So many books and merchandise.. And they even had all the Elvish dictionaries! The young woman couldn't help but look all around the store and check more than a hundred books. It was so amazing here!

Like that, the time flew and the shop was closing. Just than, it hit Levy that the theater-bookstore would be probably closing soon, if it didn't yet. And she wanted to see it so bad!

Levy left the bookshop, heading in the direction of the dorms. Or at least in the direction of where the dorms should be.

The girl walked and walked, somehow arriving in what seemed to be the part of the town inhabited by the less fortunate, not to say poor people. A short glance at her phone told Levy that it was already past 8 pm. It was dark and she didn't know where she was. How great! On top of that, the first raindrops hit the ground.

What now? The bluenette looked around. She would need a shelter soon and someone to ask for the way to the dorms.

She spotted light in on of the alleys and decided to try her luck there. It had no use to stand in the rain.

Levy was surprised as she realized that the light came out of a small antiquarian bookshop with tarnished windows. As she favoured such stores anyway, the girl pushed against the door and stepped in without thinking.

She was greeted by the smell of old books and.. cinnamon? All in all, the shop looked better than expected and there were actually still customers in it from what she could see.

In thoughts, the girl started looking through the books and found quite a few interesting pieces. As she explored the different shelves, Levy didn't fail to notice small armchairs all around the place next to lamps.

The store was like one of these buildings one could see in Ghibli-movies. Just amazing, with plenty of things to discover. Like another world.

"Watch out!" Levy barely heard the words as something hard and solid felt on her head, followed by even more objects.

Before she could even realize what has happened, a black middle-aged man was kneeing next to her with a worried expression.

"Are you okay?" he asked "I am terribly sorry. Please tell me if I can do something for you." The man looked so worried and apologetic.

Levy just stared him absolutely confused. "Um.. What was that?"

He sighed. "One of the guys who occasionally help out had manages to bump into the shelf and the books flew out. I am really sorry."

"It's alright. I think I am alright." she smiled. "But could you please tell me at what time the shop is closing?"

"It's open all night." a gruff voice came from behind her.

"Gajeel! Where are your manners! Apologize! And be friendlier towards our customers!"  
Gajeel? The name was rare. It couldn't be... Could it? Levy turned around just as the said man opened his mouth. She recognized him right at the spot, the angry scowl and long wild mane being the same even after all those years. Through all the piercings were new.

His mouth snapped shut as he realized who the heck was sitting there between all the books. Gajeel couldn't believe it. Shorty was here? In front of him? Really?

"L-Levy?" he stuttered, still in surprise, not minding Lily who watched him with huge interest. Of course he had heard the story of what happened to the book he gave the young man ages ago.

"Gajeel? I..I can't believe it! What are you doing here?"

"Obviously throwing books on people." the man behind Levy commented sarcastically as he stood up from where he was kneeling next to Levy. He added smiling "Don't forget to clean this mess up Gajeel. Miss" he nodded and left to check on an other part of the store.

The young man sat next to Levy on the floor still covered in books as he glanced down on her lap. He reached for the book, eyebrows disappearing under the bandana he was currently wearing as he examined it.

"No way. I didn't know we had this." he mumbled under his nose as he realized it was the same book he gave Levy, looking up to her short after.

"Um.. Well... I am sorry for dropping the books on you..." he apologized awkwardly, making Levy smile at him. He remembered it. It was the exactly same smile she gave him years before. Suddenly, it felt as if they were still sitting on the swings, talking innocently about whatever came to their mind.

"Wanna go out?" he asked before even realizing it.

"S-Sure." Levy replied, red as a tomato. Her childhood-crush has asked her out? Unbelievable!

"You sure?" Gajeel asked again, finally getting what he just did.

"Yeah. I think so." Levy shot him one of her smilies again.

"But I'm not a good guy..." he tried it again, not wanting to hurt the girl he had hold dear in his heart for all these years.

Somehow, it made her smile even more."Don't worry. Dragons are better than knights anyway!"


End file.
